Lions Stand United
by Firenze Fox
Summary: When Peter decides that he can't let Remus's lycanthropy go, the three Marauders receive a welcome surprise. SEQUEL TO BLUE MOON.


**A/N. Well, hello everybody. This is the (hopefully) long-awaited sequel to Blue Moon, and I must say that I'm rather pleased with it. I just sat at my computed for over three hours (I know, I'm a slow writer) and banged out this monstrosity- 1794 words, not counting this A/N. Thanks to you all who reviewed Chapter 7 of Blue Moon, and also to all of ypu that favorite/followed. Once again, I am going to be taking a break from the HP fandom after this, vacationing in the Avengers or HTTYD fandoms, but I will eventually return. Please review!**

"Ooooh, how about mashed potatoes?"

"How would we put that on a stick, idiot? And besides, we want something explosive!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but who suggested green beans again? You should know that in paragraph three, section six of the Marauders' Code, it states that, 'No Marauder shall ever eat anything green, as that is the color of our sworn enemies-'" and here Sirius's voice dropped down to a whisper- "the _Slytherins_."

"Well, we could just cast a color-changing charm on- wait, we have a _written code? _Since when do we have a-_Remus._"

The amber-eyed boy shrugged, eyes glittering with suppressed laughter. "Well, when you kept using the 'Marauders' Code' as an excuse for all our pranks, I figured it might be a good idea to have a written one when somebody inevitably calls you out on it."

James stared for a moment and then slowly nodded. "Okay, fair point, it just goes against all my instincts! A code is a set of _rules_, Remus! _Rules_! I don't-"

Sirius's eyes went blank with absolute horror, twisting around to face Remus and narrowly avoiding knocking James into the fireplace. "Wait, _what?_ You never told me that these were _rules_! I thought that they were just, I don't know, _guidelines_! It is our duty as Marauders to break rules!"

Remus leaned back, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Well, to break these rules, you would have to play no pranks, eat healthy, do all your homework, never call McGonagall 'Minnie' again, never turn Severus's hair red and gold, never blow up cauldrons in Potions class, never-"

Sirius rolled off the couch, clutching his ears. "ARGH, okay, enough! The mere thoughts, they burn, they kill my BRAIN CELLS, Remmie-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius, you'll be fine…"

Sirius rolled over to look up at James's face, a hopeful look in his eyes.

James smirked. "…You have no brain cells left to lose, anyways."

Remus snagged another marshmallow from the bag. He briefly wondered where Sirius had gotten them from- they were a Muggle candy, after all- and then decided that he didn't particularly care, munching on it contentedly as he watched Sirius throw a piece of toast at James.

He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky.

The three Marauders were seated around one of the massive fireplaces in the crowded Gryffindor common room, in the most comfortable red armchairs that you could possibly imagine. Sirius had gotten the brilliant idea to try and make whatever items of food he could get his hands on explode by toasting them in the fireplace. After approximately seventeen trips to the kitchen, they were surrounded by wrappers, crumbs, and uneaten pieces of toast, which they had abandoned after discovering the miracle of marshmallows.

It had been two months since the disastrous blue moon incident, which had resulted in the Marauders discovering that intelligent, chocoholic, tiny-but-deceptively-strong Remus Lupin was actually a werewolf.

After the initial shock had worn off- and after Remus had woken up from the worst transformation in his life- they had been quick to assure him that it was fine, it changed nothing, they were perfectly alright with it-

Well, two of the other three Marauders were, at any rate.

But Peter Pettigrew was no longer a Marauder.

Sirius glanced uneasily over at the former fourth member of their little band. Peter was over by another fireplace, poking moodily at the logs. He sighed.

Peter was bitter, that much was obvious. The entire school was baffled over the sudden split between the Marauders, and the fact that they had completely ostracized the pudgy boy. Sirius was highly concerned, though. The way Peter had acted towards Remus…

"_I can't believe that a thing like that was running around Hogwarts with us!"_

Sirius shook his head. He would not think about that awful time, would not think about Remus nearly dying, would not think of the blood and screaming and crying and the scent of death-

No.

It was okay. Remus was with them. Remus was safe and was finally beginning to trust them again.

Sirius glanced back over at Peter and noted with some relief that the smaller boy had left his chair and was heading towards the portrait hole. He grinned and turned back to Remus, smiling at the contented expression on his face.

So he didn't see Peter pause.

He didn't see Peter head to a table in the center of the common room and clamber up onto it.

He didn't see Peter point his wand at his throat and mutter, _"Sonorus_."

But he did hear Peter scream out, at the top of his lungs, instantly gaining the attention of the entire Gryffindor house-

"_REMUS LUPIN IS A WEREWOLF!"_

James had never felt this way before.

He stared, disbelieving, at Peter, the idiot bastard who had just spilt Remus's secret to the whole of Gryffindor.

_Oh, Merlin, Remus…_

His eyes flickered over to Remus, frozen with a marshmallow in his hand, the color disappearing from his face.

He remembered what Remus had told him, about what people did to werewolves.

And then he acted.

Seizing his wand, James scrambled up, taking up a position on Remus's left side, and remembering too late that he still had marshmallow fluff and crumbs of toast in his hair. He mentally slapped himself-he wanted to look intimidating, damnit, not immature and irresponsible.

_Although that was a pretty accurate portrayal…_

Shaking himself, he noticed Sirius mirroring his pose on Remus's right, and silently thanked him for looking a hell of a lot more intimidating than James did.

It was only then that he bothered to look at the rest of the common room.

Like a tidal wave, heads were slowly turning in their direction, expressions ranging from disbelieving to…

Actually, they were pretty much all disbelieving.

Sixth year Frank Longbottom was the next to speak up. "Remus Lupin? A _werewolf_? Don't be ridiculous, Pettigrew, look at-"

His voice trailed off as he took in Remus's horrified expression and the protective stances of Sirius and James, wands clutched in white-knuckled hands.

"…Damn," he breathed. "You really are a werewolf, aren't you?"

No one said a word.

And then a small voice was heard, and heads swung away from Remus to look at the speaker.

James inhaled sharply.

_Lily…_

"Is that…bad?" She asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Peter laughed slightly uncontrollably. "_Bad? _Lily, they're monsters! They kill people! They eat children!"

Lily's eyes widened…

And then she laughed.

"_Remus Lupin_? A bloodthirsty, child-eating monster? Sorry, Peter, but I can't call someone who refuses to even kill a spider a bloodthirsty monster."

And with that, she shoved through the mass of unmoving students and came to stand beside them.

James released a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"You should have told me," Lily said gently, placing a hand on Remus's shoulder. "I could have helped."

"_He should have told us, damnit! We could have-"_

And at that moment, James fell just a little bit more in love with Lily Evans.

And then the voices of the redheaded Prewitt twins rang out.

"Dude, that is epic!"

"Do you grow a tail?"

"What color is your fur?"

"Can we give you Lucius Malfoy as a chew toy?"

Remus released a slightly hysterical giggle.

Quidditch-callused hands ruffled his hair.

"After all," Fabian said, grinning down at Remus's awestruck face, "Pranksters stick together, right, mate?"

And they took up positions beside James and Sirius, flanking them both.

Frank was the next to make a move, making his way to the small but stubborn group, and turning to face the crowd of motionless students.

"Hey, firsties!"

There was a slight ripple as small heads looked up.

"How many of you have been tutored by Remus?"

For a second, there was no movement, and James began to fear that whatever Frank's plan was, it had backfired horribly.

But then one hand went up.

And then another.

And then another and another and another.

"And how many of you-" and now Frank addressed the whole gathering "-have been given an enormous chunk of chocolate when you didn't even ask for any but somehow he just _knew_?"

More hands went up.

A head of black hair bobbed through the crowd and made its way up to the group that was growing more hopeful by the second.

"I never did say thanks for that," Marlene McKinnon said, vibrant and bubbly as always, with an enormous grin splitting her face. "This is me saying thank you."

Remus stared.

"Yeah," said Frank, now sounding slightly sarcastic. "I can _totally _see someone like that devouring us all in our sleep."

A ripple of laughter spread throughout the common room, and several students that James didn't recognize but vowed to get to know later on broke away from the shifting mass and stepped up beside the group of eight.

Frank's eyes widened as another idea occurred to him.

"By the way, we're Gryffindors! What happened to house loyalty? Just because one of us has a- a- a furry little problem doesn't mean we're going to drive him out!"

"_He's our best mate, why would we care if he has a…has a…"_

"_A furry little problem!" interjected James._

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the room.

James watched dazedly as more and more people flooded over to stand beside them.

Peter's mouth was opening and closing like a fish.

"But…but I'm a Gryffindor too!"

And suddenly James was consumed with an all-powerful rage.

"You," he hissed, pointing his finger at Peter, "Were _never _a Gryffindor."

Peter blinked, staring at the other students.

"This isn't a fight that you are going to win, Pettigrew," Sirius growled. "Get out of here."

And so Peter did.

At dinner, in the Great Hall, Minerva McGonagall was surprised to see a change in the seating arrangements at the Gryffindor table, and the complete absence of a certain Peter Pettigrew.

She glanced over at Albus, who met her eyes and simply twinkled infuriatingly.

Minerva's eyes widened as a thought struck her, and she returned her attention to the Gryffindor table.

She watched as Marlene McKinnon pushed back her chair and left with some of her friends, but not before making a detour past Remus's seat and patting him on the shoulder. Remus looked up at her and grinned, saying something inaudible. Marlene laughed and left.

She watched as Fabian Prewitt ruffled Remus's hair when he and his twin ran down to the other end of the table to grab the mashed potatoes.

She watched as Remus laughed with the two Marauders, seeming like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders.

Minerva McGonagall had never before been quite so proud of her house.


End file.
